Fantastic Tribulation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:FantasticTribulation.png|thumb|450px|link=CALL TO ADVENTURE! Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board|The start of something that will change the world for better or worse.]]

The '''Fantastic Tribulation''' is a phenomenon describing a setting which has gone through a storm of chaos brought about by supernatural forces and beings, such that society is incapable of countering this event through conventional means. This leads to either an [[Urban Fantasy]] or an [[After the End]] scenario turning into a [[Cozy Catastrophe]]. In either case, they involve [[Differently-Powered Individual|people gaining access to magic or some other form of mystical powers]]. Learning to use these powers is crucial to surviving in this new world.

 

{{examples}}

== [[Advertising]] ==

* The Zillow ad "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kAFA0vm4uE The Journey]" features this as a little girl prepares to move with her magical animal friends to a new island, navigating on a boat over heavy waves as they mourn what they leave behind. Their new home has trees with eyes, whispers of doubts, and a fantastic, spacious castle carved into the mountains. They resolve to make the best of it, though the girl snuggles her friends when she can't sleep. Turns out {{spoiler|it was an [[Imagine Spot]] of the girl moving into a normal house, and it ends with another kid inviting her to play, calling her "New neighbor"; her animal friends were her stuffed toys. Her mother is relieved when seeing her daughter smile for the first time in days}}.

** During ''A Game of You'', it's revealed that Barbie's dreams feature this. As Princess Barbara, Barbie is the rightful ruler of a realm where the Cuckoo has taken her throne and introduces chaos through the power of compulsion. Armies march through peaceful villages and terrify the citizens, anthropomorphized creatures that can talk or perform magic. Barbie notes that while the Land is still beautiful, it is no longer home and won't be unless she defeats the Cuckoo. Martin Tenbones tells her that the Porpentine, a magical sugar gem, is what keeps the Land intact, so she must never let the Cuckoo destroy it. {{spoiler|Barbie fails; the Cuckoo slaughters most of her friends, brainwashes the rest, and compels her to destroy the Porpentine. Dream comes and ends the Land's time in the Dreaming, so all the dead inhabitants enter the palm of his hand}}. Even worse, when Dream appears, he breaks it gently to Barbie that {{spoiler|Cuckoos are ''supposed'' to invite this level of destruction. Their nature is to grow in a dream world that isn't there, leave by any means possible, and fly to their hearts' content. He says that if Rose hadn't inadvertently interfered with Barbie's dream, the Cuckoo would be able to leave sooner.}}

** ''The Kindly Ones'' implies that Dream either invokes or {{spoiler|passively lets it happen when Loki and Puck kidnap Daniel, the baby designated as Dream's heir, and frame Dream as the culprit for burning Daniel alive. Daniel's mom, Hippolyta Hall, invokes the wrath of the Furies (AKA the Kindly Ones) on Dream and lets them rampage in his realm. Most Dreaming inhabitants get slaughtered, though some, like Gilbert and Mervyn Pumpkinhead, fight to the bitter end to protect their King. Despite the residents' best efforts, the rampage ends with Dream's death. He more than welcomes it once the Kindly Ones let him say goodbye to his sister, Death. Daniel—who rapidly ages to become an adult as the new Dream with the previous avatar's memories—is not pleased by his mother's stupidity, the amount of destruction he has to repair, and the inhabitants whose lives were senselessly lost. Gilbert refuses to be revived, meaning Daniel has to live with the loss among others, and a changed landscape. Daniel has to face what this new world means; as the King of Dreams, he has the choice to be a better leader than Morpheus, to adjust the rules as he sees fit. He faces this uncertainty with Matthew's help and embraces the changes. Later series like ''The Dreaming'' and ''Nightmare County'' go into how the Dreaming has changed, with the Corinthian becoming a borderline [[Anti-Hero]], a far cry from his [[Arc Villain]] counterpart}}.

 

== [[Film]] ==

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* Deconstructed during the fourth season of ''[[Angel]]''. Jasmine, one of the [[Powers That Be]], creates world peace and ushers in an age of utopia... by manipulating Cordelia and Angel Investigations to {{spoiler|gain a human form and appear on Earth}}, then removing everyone's free will and forcing them to praise her constantly–even taking over their karaoke nights! In addition, {{spoiler|she needs to eat a few people every day to maintain this power, and she naturally robs her victims of any choice in the matter}}. Angel calls her out for this {{spoiler|when Fred snaps him out of mind control, and Angel Investigations succeed in getting rid of Jasmine. This leaves them wondering if they did the right thing, especially when [[Big Bad]] Wolfram & Hart thank them for ending world peace}}.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

** Due to the often colorful and esoteric language of the text in question, it's enough to say [[La Resistance|those who believe in Christ]] and [[Religion of Evil|those who support his enemy, called the Beast]] both acquire some limited supernatural abilities during this period, the former mostly immune from certain kinds of supernatural harm that the other side has no defense against. The opposing side gains mostly offensive powers and the ability to deceive the undecided into being swayed to their side.

* Hindu mythology has Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu the protector god. When the world is thrown off-balance owing to people being too evil and selfish, Kalki will ride through with a sword and wipe out those that demonstrate ''adharma''–sowing discord and immorality while neglecting your life duties–rather than dharma. Only then can a new life cycle start on Earth. The period in-between probably won’t be fun for humanity.

 

== [[Podcast]]s ==

* ''[[Welcome to Nightvale]]'' has host Cecil ''try'' to combat this with his radio broadcasts. The keyword is "try" because Nightvale is too weird and chaotic even on a normal level. You may be able to live a semi-normal life if you find a new definition for migraines, avoid touching plastic flamingos, or resist going to the park after sundown.

 

== [[Puppet Shows]] ==

* ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'' shows a world where a shard of crystal brought two races and caused societal chaos because {{spoiler|the urSkeks mistakenly shattered the Crystal}}. The Skeksis use the crystal's corrupting power to extend their lifespans while the Mystics try to mitigate the damage. The Mystics send [[The Protagonist]], Jen, on a quest to make the crystal whole again. It's a world where certain characters can talk to the planet’s flora, and sympathetic magic exists. The movie's ending {{spoiler|shows the urSkeks leaving after bringing Kira back to life, giving Jen and Kira hope they can reverse this tribulation for their people}}.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Undertale]]'' has this, only with a twist if you do the No Mercy route: {{spoiler|instead of a strange monster plaguing a group of humans and disrupting society, it's a ''human'' traveling and disrupting society by killing monsters. Alphys evacuates any survivors, reluctantly leaving Undyne and Mettaton behind as they prepare to hold off the human.}}

* The backstory of the ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' series is predicated on this trope, when all technology ceased to function in the year 2000. Society eventually rebuilt afterward thanks to the emergence of [[Magitek|magic that became the basis of most technology in some form]], though some holdouts to the original old-world tech [[Start My Own|would form their own society]]. The games themselves explore the post-recovery world and fill in the blanks on how the world developed after the initial apocalypse.

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

* ''Seoul Station's Necromancer'' has a supernatural phenomenon that causes people to be summoned to different worlds where they gain jobs with magic and skills. They are eventually returned to Earth and are known as Returnees. Dungeons and monsters related to these worlds are summoned to Earth simultaneously. The government established the Returnee Control Department to gather and regulate Returnees while giving them therapy for traumatic experiences in the other worlds. Guilds are created to provide employment to hunt monsters and conquer the dungeons. They are also commercialized, where top-ranked members are seen as celebrities.

* ''My S-Class Hunters'' has Gates–global portals where monsters pass through from dimensions known as Dungeons. The sudden appearance of these Gates led to an event known as the Dungeon Shock, where the monsters wreaked havoc across cities, and thousands of people were injured or killed. At the same time, people known as Awakened began to surface, with powers that they used to fight the monsters and clear dungeons. They eventually came to be known as Hunters and rose to become society's most important occupation.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Most of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' features a [[Bad Future]] where Aku reigns over the land because his past self sent the title character to the future. It's a world with sentient robots and ghosts, where independent resistance groups have risen up against Aku.

* In ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'', the Earth’s climate and geography were drastically changed due to a meteor passing its orbit. This led to planet-wide natural disasters and the collapse of civilization, resulting in chaos worldwide, followed by magic, savagery, and [[Weird Science]] appearing.

 

{{reflist}}